University Student Housing as Business Proposition and Entrepreneurial Activity: The Canadian Case

Ashish K. Pillai, Marcelo A. Vieta and Luisa Sotomayor

Housing Policy Debate, 2024, vol. 34, issue 5, 644-667

Abstract: Canadian universities are increasingly relying on private-sector participation in the provision of student housing through new means and strategies, such as financialization and public–private partnerships (P3s). Such participation is furthering the transformation of students as consumers and universities as neoliberal subjects embracing business propositions and entrepreneurial initiatives. We discuss the precedents, current motivations for university administrations, and effects of private-sector participation in shaping contemporary student housing landscapes in Canada, with a view to the international situation. Ultimately, the overreliance on market-based and P3 solutions for new student housing is not resolving the immediate housing availability and affordability needs of Canadian university students; it is, rather, entrenching enclaves of exclusive student housing for some while doing little to reduce the barriers to adequate housing for a far larger number of students. For further exploration and debate, we conclude with a reflection on alternative, participatory, and inclusive student housing solutions beyond P3s.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2021.1883703

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